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Media News Billboard: Harney's message to shoppers gets a price tag

MARY HARNEY’S advice to consumers to “shop around” seems to have struck a chord. The tanaiste took a bit of a pasting following her Marie Antoinette-type comments but Carmel Foley, director of consumer affairs, believes the PD leader is onto something. Foley’s office, fresh from a mauling at the hands of the Irish Bankers’ Federation following its submission to the Competition Authority investigation on the banking industry, is planning an extensive advertising campaign in the run-up to Christmas, urging consumers to “shop around” and be price-savvy. Ireland’s inflation rate of 3.2% remains stubbornly higher than that of fellow European Union members but with a little creative input that might be brought down to average European levels. The creative and media buying account is believed to be worth €500,000 and Billboard understands that Young Advertising, McConnells, Adept/Carat and Cawley Nea are among the five agencies shortlisted by the director for the